As Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) Steals the Show

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By Stefan Larson on October 22, 2014 Financial

Unlike its competitors, Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) this year beat the consensus valuation for its third quarter and delivered 13% more in earnings as compared to the same period last year. Tech giants, such as, IBM (NYSE: IBM), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) missed their earnings estimates for the quarter. IBM (NYSE: IBM)’s new plan of action is to reorganize and establish a strategy focused on growth areas and expansion. EBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and HP on the other hands plan to start over and restructure. But Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) has a distinctly unique approach and that’s what makes Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) so different.

Apple (NASDAQ:APPL)’s earning this year rounded up to $1.42 per share, with $42 billion in revenues for the fourth fiscal quarter. Whereas the consensus was set at a $1.31 per share prediction, and later as the actual figures of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus came to light, the consensus rose till $1.40 per share.

As the year wraps up, Apple (NASDAQ:APPL)’s confidence level has boasted. According to Apple (NASDAQ:APPL)’s own guidelines, the company is expected to earn a per share earnings from $2.40 to $2.50. Along with expected revenue of $65 billion and a 38% gross margin. The consensus for Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) for December is $2.40. These predictions emerged after an analysis of Apple (NASDAQ:APPL)’s top 3 products of the year; the iPhone, iPad and the Mac, which made up 85% of Apple (NASDAQ:APPL)’s revenue for September. Here’s a quick outlook of how these products did on an individual level.

IPhones: The iPhone sales in September zoomed up to a hefty $24 billion, which is more than its total for the year. Right after the release of iPhone 6 and 6 plus, its sales reached 10 million within the first couple of days. Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) made a total of 40 million units, out of which one third were of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The increase of the company’s gross margin from 37% to 38% within a year was due to costly iPhones.

IPad: The sales dropped by 14% this year and, and only $5.4 billion was generated in revenues. Tim Cook the Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) CEO described the scenario as saturation fears being blown out of proportion. The last iPad was launched two years ago so and its demand remained unchanged and suppressed. But for Cook, this isn’t the end of the line for the iPads. He believes people will respond well and with time they will become hooked on to the devices. It won’t be long when they start picking out two or three Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) devices for their everyday use.

Macs: These sales rose by 18% generating $6.6 million. Apple (NASDAQ:APPL) believes its outstanding software for all its devices will soon motivate more sales.

In terms of geographical increase, the US and Europe grew by 18%. Asia proved to be weak and more surprisingly China was stagnant. But once the figures of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are released, these are expected to change dramatically.